Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A method for dividing radiological images, the method comprising: sending a first request to an image acquisition system to perform a first radiological examination of a first region of a patient; sending a second request to an image acquisition system to perform a second radiological examination of a second region of the patient, wherein the first and second regions are two distinct regions of the patient; combining the first radiological examination and the second radiological examination into a single acquisition procedure; acquiring images during the single acquisition procedure; tagging each one of the images with a protocol tag; automatically dividing the images based on the protocol tag; and associating each of at least two protocols with either one of the first request and the second request and tagging each one of the images with a single protocol tag for the at least two protocols.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the imaging acquisition system includes a computerized tomography system, and further comprising sending a first request having a one-to-one ratio with a first protocol and a second request having a one-to-one ratio with a first protocol.
3. The method of claim 1 and further comprising embedding the protocol tag in a header of each one of the images.
4. The method of claim 1 and further comprising automatically dividing images for the first radiological examination from images for the second radiological examination by parsing the images according to the protocol tag.
5. The method of claim 1 and further comprising sending the first request and the second request in a single message to the image acquisition system.
6. The method of claim 1 and further comprising acquiring images using at least one of a computed tomography, a magnetic resonance imaging system, an X-ray system, an ultrasound system, any cardiac imaging systems, a nuclear medicine system, and a positron emission tomography system.
7. The method of claim 1 and further comprising tagging each one of the images with a protocol tag including a request identification and a protocol identification.
8. A virtual examination split viewer for use with a hospital information system and an image acquisition system, the virtual examination split viewer comprising: a tagging module that tags acquired images with a protocol tag, wherein the acquired images are obtained by combining a first and a second exam request into a single examination request, and further wherein the first and second exam requests are for radiological images of two distinct regions of the patient; and a splitting module that automatically divides the acquired images by parsing the acquired images according to the protocol tag, wherein the tagging module associates each of at least two protocols with each of a first request and a second request, and tags each one of the acquired image with a single protocol tag for the at least two protocols.
9. The virtual examination split viewer of claim 8 wherein the imaging acquisition system includes a computerized tomography system, and wherein the hospital information system sends a request having a one-to-one ratio with a protocol to the tagging module.
10. The virtual examination split viewer of claim 8 wherein the tagging module embeds the protocol tag in a header of each one of the acquired images.
11. The virtual examination split viewer of claim 8 wherein the splitting module automatically divides images for a first radiological examination from images for a second radiological examination by parsing the acquired images according to the protocol tag.
12. The virtual examination split viewer of claim 8 wherein the image acquisition system includes at least one of a computed tomography system, a magnetic resonance imaging system, an X-ray system, an ultrasound system, any cardiac imaging systems, a nuclear medicine system, and a positron emission tomography system.
13. The virtual examination split viewer of claim 8 wherein the tagging module tags each one of the acquired images with a protocol tag including a request identification and a protocol identification.
14. A computer program embodied by a computer readable medium capable of being executed by a computer, the computer program for use in a system with a virtual examination split viewer and an image acquisition system, the computer program comprising: a tagging module that embeds headers of acquired images with protocol tags; and a splitting module that divides the acquired images by parsing the acquired images according to the protocol tags embedded in the headers, wherein the acquired images are obtained by combining a first and a second exam request into a single examination request, and further wherein the first and second exam requests are for radiological images of two distinct regions of the patient, wherein the tagging module associates each of at least two protocols with each one of a first request and tags each one of the acquired images with a single protocol tag for the at least two protocols.
15. The computer program of claim 14 wherein the imaging acquisition system includes a computerized tomography system, and wherein the hospital information system sends a request having a one-to-one ratio with a protocol to the tagging module.
16. The computer program of claim 14 wherein the tagging module embeds the protocol tag in a header of each one of the acquired images.
17. The computer program of claim 14 wherein the splitting module automatically divides images for a first radiological examination from images for a second radiological examination by parsing the acquired images according to the protocol tag.
18. The computer program of claim 14 where the image acquisition system includes at least one of a compound tomography system, a magnetic resonance imaging system, an X-ray system, an ultrasound system, any cardiac imaging systems, a nuclear medicine system, and a positron emission tomography system.
19. The computer program of claim 14 wherein the tagging module tags each one of the acquired images with a protocol tag including a request identification and a protocol identification.
Unknown
June 24, 2008
Browse 5M+ US patents with plain-English claim translations and AI-generated analysis.